Virtual Meeting Etiquette
Do you find yourself in the middle of a Teams meeting, while everyone is talking over each other, thinking, there has to be a better way…
Short answer: there is. We put together 5 things you can do to have more productive and professional virtual meetings, leaving everyone feeling better after they hang up.
Choose a leader for the meeting. This person can be either the meeting organizer or a nominated participant who will be responsible for setting the expectations of the meeting at the beginning and facilitating as the meeting progresses.
The meeting leader should set very clear meeting objectives at the beginning of every meeting. This will dramatically improve the return on investment for every meeting. E.g. “By the end of this meeting we should have a clear strategy for measuring sales results in Q4.”
The meeting leader should also very clearly set the expectation that each participant should remain muted, raising their hand digitally when they would like to speak, until the leader calls on them. This structure eliminates talking over one another as well as making the meeting significantly more productive.
If using Microsoft Teams open the meeting options and set either the meeting leader, or the selected participants, as the only people able to present. This will prevent accidental sharing of screens and content that is not the original intended content for the meeting.
The meeting leader should encourage the use of video by the participants. Being engaged by the meeting content is integral in having a productive meeting and talking to a blank screen does not encourage the human interaction that we all need to be engaged.
While this is not an exhaustive list following these five simple steps will dramatically improve your meeting productivity. Your time is your most valuable asset and having a productive meeting is key to not wasting it. Search FTTS for more information about how you can make your meetings more productive.
